Cathedral of los Santos Niños Justo y Pastor de Alcalá de Henares: Seat of the Diocese
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Crown of Castile, Spanish
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page11 sections
History
The Cathedral of los Santos Niños Justo y Pastor de Alcalá de Henares is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Spain, built in its present form principally in the late Gothic or Isabelline Gothic period between 1497 and 1515. It stands on the place traditionally associated with the martyrdom of Justus and Pastor, Christian children said to have been executed outside Roman Complutum in 304 during the Great Persecution under the emperor Diocletian. Their cult made the site an important religious center in the history of Alcalá.
From Roman martyr shrine to Visigothic cathedral
A chapel for the remains of Justus and Pastor was erected at the site in 414. During the Visigothic period, when the Visigoths established a kingdom across much of Hispania after the decline of Roman imperial rule, the church became a cathedral. Bishops of Alcalá attended the Councils of Toledo from the sixth or seventh century onward, linking the church with the institutions of the Visigothic kingdom.
Medieval destruction and rebuilding
Alcalá, more precisely the fortress known as Alcalá la Vieja, was conquered by Ferdinand I of León in 1053 and retaken by Muslim forces the following year. The cathedral was destroyed in retaliation. The Mozarabs, Christians living under Muslim rule while retaining their religion and distinct cultural practices, were transferred to Guadalajara, while the relics of Justus and Pastor were taken first to Huesca and later to France during the Muslim invasion.
After Alcalá was reconquered in 1118, the church was rebuilt in 1122. In 1129, Archbishop Raymond de Sauvetât of Toledo obtained from Alfonso VII the donation of Alcalá and its lands to the archbishopric of Toledo. Through Raymond’s influence with Pope Urban II, however, the Diocese of Alcalá was not restored at that time.
The collegiate church and the Magistral title
Archbishop Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña rebuilt the church between 1446 and 1482 and raised it to collegiate status. A collegiate church is governed by a chapter of canons rather than by a bishop. During the authority of Cardinal Cisneros, from 1495 to 1517, it received the title “Magistral,” which requires its canons to hold doctorates in theology. The present building was constructed between 1497 and 1515, designed by Pedro Gumiel, with Antón Egas and Enrique Egas directing the works.
The tower was begun by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón in 1528, continued by Rodrigo Argüello in 1582, and completed by Nicolás Vergara the Younger in 1618. The processional cloister and the Chapel of Saint Peter were added in the seventeenth century. The church therefore combines its late Gothic foundation with Renaissance and Mudéjar elements. Alcalá’s cathedral and Saint Peter’s Church in Leuven are identified as the only two churches in the world holding the Magistral title.
War, restoration, and the modern cathedral
On 21 July 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the church was burned. Almost all of its treasures and many works of art, together with objects valued for their historical, devotional, or sentimental associations, were lost. Some grilles and chairs from the former choir survived the fire.
The church became a national monument and a Spanish site of cultural interest on 22 December 1904. It now forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage property “University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares,” inscribed in 1998. The Diocese of Alcalá was restored in 1991, separated from the Archdiocese of Madrid, and the church was elevated to its present status as a cathedral-magistral. This revived the Complutense diocese associated with Alcalá from the fifth century until 1099. The cathedral was dedicated on 23 July 1991 and serves as the principal church of the diocese, the seat of its bishop and cathedral chapter, and the home of an interpretation center and cathedral museum.
The relic tradition connects the cathedral with the remains of Justus and Pastor and with the stone associated with their martyrdom. The saints’ remains are divided between Alcalá de Henares and Huesca. Individuals buried or commemorated in the cathedral include Justus and Pastor, Saint Diego of Alcalá, Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña, Cardinal Cisneros, the sculptor Gregorio Fernández, and Archbishop García Loaysa y Girón.
Remains
The cathedral has a severe exterior faced with walls covered in Segovian-type sgraffito, a decoration made by cutting through one layer of plaster to expose another beneath it. Inside, three naves are covered by cross-ribbed vaults, ceilings supported by intersecting stone ribs, and the overall plan takes the form of a Latin cross with a pronounced transept. The surviving fabric brings together late Gothic, Renaissance, Mudéjar, and Herrerian features.
Exterior and tower
The western portal is in Flamboyant Gothic style, a late Gothic decorative style known for elaborate flame-like tracery, and bears a central medallion of Saint Ildefonso, the seventh-century archbishop of Toledo. The tower rises approximately 62 metres. Its lower section is quadrangular and follows a severe, geometric Herrerian design. Above it is a Madrid-style spire or slate pinnacle decorated with balls, a weather vane, and a cross.
Cloister and museum spaces
The seventeenth-century cloister consists of arcades set between pilasters. Its floors are covered with Renaissance carpets that came from convents in Alcalá. The cloister gives access to the chapter house, the room where the cathedral chapter conducts its affairs, and to the former library.
The former library, decorated by Angelo Nardi, now forms part of the Cathedral Museum. The museum includes a tomb associated with Archbishop Carrillo and a treasury containing religious goldsmiths’ work, paintings, luxury arts, and liturgical vestments. It also has a section devoted to Justus and Pastor.
Apse, ambulatory, and crypt
The apse is reinforced externally by substantial buttresses. Around it, the ambulatory, a passage running behind the main altar, alternates triangular and rectangular bays supported by Gothic piers carved with foliage. Within this circuit lies the crypt of Justus and Pastor.
The crypt contains a 1702 urn made by the Zureno brothers. Decorated with reliefs in silver and gold, it holds the remains of the two saints and the stone associated with their martyrdom. The ambulatory also contains an alabaster sepulchre made for Gregorio Fernández.
Naves and chapels
Almost nothing of the earlier church survives in the Gospel nave, which now serves as the cathedral interpretation center. The Epistle nave contains the principal chapels and the parish church of Saint Peter. Built in 1622, Saint Peter’s has a granite Herrerian portal, a Baroque interior, and a hemispherical dome.
The Chapel of the Virgin of Val contains the image of Alcalá’s patron. The Chapel of the Ecce Homo has an unusual roof structure and a simple entrance with a semicircular arch. The chapel dedicated to Saint Diego of Alcalá contains his incorrupt body, displayed to the faithful each 13 November, his feast day.
Of the cathedral’s original eleven chapels, five survive, while painted areas on the walls indicate the positions of the other six. Excavations undertaken during restoration and renewal after the church became a cathedral revealed burials dating from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.
Presbytery and surviving furnishings
The presbytery contains a table given by Pope Sixtus V to Philip II. The space is dominated by the image known as the Virgin of Cisneros and enclosed by an elaborate grille that survived the 1936 fire. These surviving furnishings and devotional features form part of the cathedral’s material continuity after the destruction of much of its earlier interior.
